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Military dictatorship in Brazil

The military dictatorship in Brazil (Portuguese: ditadura militar), occasionally referred to as the Fifth Brazilian Republic,[3][4] was established on 1 April 1964, after a coup d'état by the Brazilian Armed Forces, with support from the United States government,[5] against president João Goulart. The Brazilian dictatorship lasted for 21 years, until 15 March 1985.[6][7] The coup was planned and executed by the most senior commanders of the Brazilian Army and received the support of almost all high-ranking members of the military, along with conservative sectors in society, like the Catholic Church and anti-communist civilian movements among the Brazilian middle and upper classes. The military regime, particularly after the Institutional Act No. 5 in 1968, practiced extensive censorship and committed human rights abuses, including institutionalized torture and extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances.[8][9] Despite initial pledges to the contrary, the military regime enacted a new, restrictive Constitution in 1967, and stifled freedom of speech and political opposition. The regime adopted nationalism, economic development, and anti-communism as its guidelines.

Republic of the
United States of Brazil
(1964–1967)
República dos Estados Unidos do Brasil
Federative Republic of Brazil
(1967–1985)
República Federativa do Brasil

 

31 March 1964

24 January 1967

13 December 1968

1968–1973

1974–1988

15 March 1985

94,508,583

121,150,573

0.545[2]
low

The military coup was fomented by José de Magalhães Pinto, Adhemar de Barros, and Carlos Lacerda (who had already participated in the conspiracy to depose Getúlio Vargas in 1945), then governors of the states of Minas Gerais, São Paulo, and Guanabara, respectively. The U.S. State Department supported the coup through Operation Brother Sam and thereafter supported the regime through its embassy in Brasília.[6][5][10]


The dictatorship reached the height of its popularity in the 1970s with the so-called "Brazilian Miracle", even as the regime censored all media, and tortured and exiled dissidents. João Figueiredo became president in March 1979; in the same year he passed the Amnesty Law for political crimes committed for and against the regime. While combating the "hardliners" inside the government and supporting a redemocratization policy, Figueiredo could not control the crumbling economy, chronic inflation and concurrent fall of other military dictatorships in South America. Amid massive popular demonstrations on the streets of the main cities of the country, the first free elections in 20 years were held for the national legislature in 1982. In 1985, another election was held, this time to indirectly elect a new president, being contested between civilian candidates for the first time since the 1960s and won by the opposition. In 1988, a new Constitution was passed and Brazil officially returned to democracy.


Brazil's military government provided a model for other military regimes and dictatorships throughout Latin America, being systematized by the so-called "National Security Doctrine",[11] which was used to justify the military's actions as operating in the interest of national security in a time of crisis, creating an intellectual basis upon which other military regimes relied.[11] In 2014, nearly 30 years after the regime collapsed, the Brazilian military recognized for the first time the excesses committed by its agents during the dictatorship, including the torture and murder of political dissidents.[12] In May 2018, the United States government released a memorandum, written by Henry Kissinger, dating back to April 1974 (when he was serving as Secretary of State), confirming that the leadership of the Brazilian military regime was fully aware of the killing of dissidents.[13] It is estimated that 434 people were either confirmed killed or went missing and 20,000 people were tortured during the military dictatorship in Brazil.[14] While some human rights activists and others assert that the true figure could be much higher, and should include thousands of indigenous people who died because of the regime's negligence,[15][16][17] the armed forces have always disputed this.

Presidents during the military dictatorship

Marshal Costa e Silva

The armed forces' officer corps was divided between those who believed that they should confine themselves to their barracks, and the hard-liners who regarded politicians as willing to turn Brazil to Communism. The victory of the hard-liners dragged Brazil into what political scientist Juan J. Linz called "an authoritarian situation". However, because the hard-liners could not ignore the counterweight opinions of their colleagues or resistance IN society, they were unable to institutionalize their agenda politically. In addition, they did not attempt to eliminate liberal constitutionalism because they feared disapproval of international opinion and damage to their alignment with the United States. The United States as bastion of anticommunism during the Cold War provided the ideology that the authoritarians used to justify their hold on power. Washington also preached liberal democracy, which forced the authoritarians to assume the contradictory position of defending democracy, while destroying it. Their concern for appearances caused them to abstain from personal dictatorship by requiring each successive general-president to hand over power to a successor.[29]

April 1964 - the coup.

October 1965 - political parties abolished, creation of two party system.

October 1965 - Presidential elections to be indirect.

January 1967 - a new Constitution.

March 1967 - Costa e Silva takes office.

November 1967 - opposition starts armed resistance.

March 1968 - beginning of student protests.

December 1968 - Institutional Act Nr.5.

September 1969 - Medici selected as president.

October 1969 - a new Constitution.

January 1973 - armed resistance suppressed.

June 1973 - Medici announces Geisel as his successor.

March 1974 - Geisel takes office.

August 1974 - political relaxation announced.

November 1974 - MDB wins in Senate elections.

April 1977 - National Congress dismissed.

October 1977 - Head of the Armed Forces dismissed.

January 1979 - Institutional Act Nr. 5 dismissed.

March 1979 - Figueiredo takes office.

November 1979 - two party system of ARENA and MDB ended.

November 1982 - opposition wins Lower house of Parliament.

April 1984 - amendment for direct presidential elections defeated.

March 1985 - takes office.

José Sarney

Corinthians Democracy

Films depicting Latin American military dictatorships

List of people killed by and disappeared during the Brazilian military dictatorship

Nuclear activities in Brazil

Volkswagen do Brasil

(1990). Revolution in Brazil. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-19-506316-5.

Kirsch, Bernard

The Politics of Military Rule in Brazil 1964-1985, by (1988).

Thomas E. Skidmore

The Political System of Brazil: Emergence of a "Modernizing" Authoritarian Regime, 1964–1970, by Ronald M. Schneider (1973).

The Military in Politics: Changing Patterns in Brazil, by (1974).

Alfred Stepan

Brazil and the Quiet Intervention: 1964, by Phyllis R. Parker (1979).

Mission in Mufti: Brazil's Military Regimes, 1964–1985, by Wilfred A. Bacchus (1990).

Eroding Military Influence in Brazil: Politicians Against Soldiers, by Wendy Hunter (1997).

by Herbert S. Klein and Francisco Vidal Luna (2017).

Brazil, 1964-1985: The Military Regimes of Latin America in the Cold War

Declassified documents from US Department of State and CIA about the 1964 coup